+
upworthy
Family

Friends wear matching bikinis to make an important point about body shaming.

Friends wear matching bikinis to make an important point about body shaming.

A recent study from the University of New South Wales and Macquarie University found that spending 30 minutes a day on Instagram can make young women negatively fixate on their weight and appearance.

Instagram is even more damaging than unrealistic images found in advertisements or on television because the models appear to be living their everyday lives.

These images are easier to relate to which makes young women more like to compare themselves to the models, celebrities, and influencers on Instagram.


While looking at unrealistic imagery on Instagram can be damaging, being the target of body shamers for posting on the social media platform can be even more dangerous.

To make a point about how body shaming on Instagram not only affects people of size, but thinner people as well, two friends, Dani Austin and Sarah Tripp, have posed in identical bikinis to call attention to the issue.

Dani

Sarah

Social media influencer Dani Austin often often receives negative comments for being too thin. So her friend Sarah Tripp posted about the insults she receives.

“Because of her naturally thin figure she tells me she often sees comments like ‘she’s anorexic’, ‘looks like she needs to eat’, ‘look at those chicken legs”, etc. how sad is that?!” she wrote.

Influencer Sarah Tripp often receives negative, fatphobic comments, so Austin discussed them on her post.

“Because of her beautiful curvy figure, Sarah tells me that she receives so many mean comments that she’s ‘overweight’, ‘unhealthy’, or ‘a bad role model,’” she wrote. “

“It’s so rude and so ridiculous!” Austin continued. “I honestly can’t think of anyone who’s a better role model than Sarah. Her only goal is to help us ladies feel confident, SASSY, and love our bodies no matter the size!”

Austin concluded her posts with a positive message for anyone who has had to deal with body shaming on social media:

I’m sure we’ve all been hurt by something that was said about us or maybe we have a little voice inside our heads telling us we aren’t pretty, smart, or successful enough. Sarah and I believe that we are ALL so much more than what you see on the outside and the truth is, we don’t need the approval of others to find our self worth. The ultimate form of girl power is self-confidence. And even though that’s always a work in progress for most, it’s one of my top goals. Let’s all remember to love ourselves because empowered women empower women. Body shaming is never okay - let’s remember that love and kindness are never wasted!

A pitbull stares at the window, looking for the mailman.


Dogs are naturally driven by a sense of purpose and a need for belonging, which are all part of their instinctual pack behavior. When a dog has a job to do, it taps into its needs for structure, purpose, and the feeling of contributing to its pack, which in a domestic setting translates to its human family.

But let’s be honest: In a traditional domestic setting, dogs have fewer chores they can do as they would on a farm or as part of a rescue unit. A doggy mom in Vancouver Island, Canada had fun with her dog’s purposeful uselessness by sharing the 5 “chores” her pitbull-Lab mix does around the house.

Keep ReadingShow less

A nasty note gets a strong response.

We've all seen it while cruising for spots in a busy parking lot: A person parks their whip in a disabled spot, then they walk out of their car and look totally fine. It's enough to make you want to vomit out of anger, especially because you've been driving around for what feels like a million years trying to find a parking spot.

You're obviously not going to confront them about it because that's all sorts of uncomfortable, so you think of a better, way less ballsy approach: leaving a passive aggressive note on their car's windshield.

Satisfied, you walk back to your car feeling proud of yourself for telling that liar off and even more satisfied as you walk the additional 100 steps to get to the store from your lame parking spot all the way at the back of the lot. But did you ever stop and wonder if you told off the wrong person?

Keep ReadingShow less
Innovation

A student accidentally created a rechargeable battery that could last 400 years

"This thing has been cycling 10,000 cycles and it’s still going." ⚡️⚡️

There's an old saying that luck happens when preparation meets opportunity.

There's no better example of that than a 2016 discovery at the University of California, Irvine, by doctoral student Mya Le Thai. After playing around in the lab, she made a discovery that could lead to a rechargeable battery that could last up to 400 years. That means longer-lasting laptops and smartphones and fewer lithium ion batteries piling up in landfills.

Keep ReadingShow less
Health

8 nontraditional empathy cards that are unlike any you've ever seen. They're perfect!

Because sincerity and real talk are important during times of medical crisis.

True compassion.

When someone you know gets seriously ill, it's not always easy to come up with the right words to say or to find the right card to give.

Emily McDowell — a former ad agency creative director and the woman behind the Los Angeles-based greeting card and textile company Emily McDowell Studio — knew all too well what it was like to be on the receiving end of uncomfortable sentiments.

At the age of 24, she was diagnosed with Stage 3 Hodgkin's lymphoma. She went into remission after nine months of chemo and has remained cancer-free since, but she received her fair share of misplaced, but well-meaning, wishes before that.

On her webpage introducing the awesome cards you're about to see, she shared,

"The most difficult part of my illness wasn't losing my hair, or being erroneously called 'sir' by Starbucks baristas, or sickness from chemo. It was the loneliness and isolation I felt when many of my close friends and family members disappeared because they didn't know what to say or said the absolute wrong thing without realizing it."

Her experience inspired Empathy Cards — not quite "get well soon" and not quite "sympathy," they were created so "the recipients of these cards [can] feel seen, understood, and loved."

Scroll down to read these sincere, from-the-heart, and incredibly realistic sentiments.

Keep ReadingShow less
Health

This woman's powerful 'before and after' photos crush myths about body positivity

"Body positivity is about saying that you are more than a body and your self-worth is not reliant on your beauty."



Michelle Elman, a body positivity coach, helps people who are struggling to find confidence in their own skin.

After persevering through numerous medical conditions and surgeries in her own life, Elman realized a few years ago that body positivity wasn't just about size or weight. Things like scars, birthmarks, and anything else that makes us feel different of self-conscious have to be a part of the conversation, and she tries to make the movement accessible to everyone.

Sharing her own journey has been one of her most effective teaching tools.

Keep ReadingShow less
via wakaflockafloccar / TikTok

It's amazing to consider just how quickly the world has changed over the past 11 months. If you were to have told someone in February 2020 that the entire country would be on some form of lockdown, nearly everyone would be wearing a mask, and half a million people were going to die due to a virus, no one would have believed you.

Yet, here we are.

PPE masks were the last thing on Leah Holland of Georgetown, Kentucky's mind on March 4, 2020, when she got a tattoo inspired by the words of a close friend.

Keep ReadingShow less